The Norfolk Tides turned back the clock and laid out the food and drinks on Tuesday night at Harbor Park. The team's annual "Turn Back the Clock" promotion - with all hot dogs, soft drinks and popcorn marked down to 50 cents apiece - drew a crowd of 8,027 to the ballpark to see the Tides beat Pawtucket 4-3 in 13 innings. According to figures released by the team, the fans ate more than 15,000 hot dogs on Tuesday night and purchased more than 10,000 soft drinks and 4,000 boxes of popcorn.

The long, cold nights of winter are made for comforting soups like my mother's corn chowder. She had clipped the recipe out of a woman's magazine some 40 years ago. The recipe epitomizes the convenience-driven attitude of the era: Nearly everything comes out of a can. Yet the chowder tastes so home-cooked and makes a wonderfully affordable one-dish meal. While this recipe calls for hot dogs, you can gussy up the chowder by using a commercially available gourmet sausage, either chicken, turkey or duck.

Tasty discovery: Burger combo Price: $4.99 Destination: Smitty's Better Burger, 1313 N. King St., Hampton. 757-723-0661. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. Shortly after 11 a.m. each day the cars start pulling into Smitty's Better Burger parking lot. Waitresses scurry about to take orders at this popular drive-in that has been offering curb service for more than a half-century. It all sounds pretty hectic but everything seems to work efficiently.

Whether or not you believe the latest study linking hot-dog consumption to certain cancers in children, it's good to know what goes into them. Here's the skinny from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which sets the rules for what's allowed and what's not. By definition, whether made from beef, pork, turkey or chicken, hot dogs are cooked, smoked sausages. In their final form they may not contain more than 30 percent fat and 10 percent water. As for non-meat binders and fillers - typically non-fat dry milk, cereal and dried whole milk - there should be no more than 3.5 percent or 2 percent isolated soy protein.

Fantastic find: chili foot-long dog and fries Price: $4.90 (no extra charge for toppings) Where to go: Gus' Hot Dog King Address: 10725 Jefferson Ave., Newport News (595-1630) and 2227 Richmond Road, Williamsburg (220-4786); take-out menu available Hours: 10:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m., open every day There's a television commercial currently playing in which a young lady looks out of the screen and asks, "What's in a hot dog?" Everyone knows the answer to that one. A hot dog is a bit of everything - mustard, relish and ketchup optional.

William "The Refrigerator" Perry, a bona fide 400-pounder, dunked a basketball while at Clemson, but nobody was ready to put him into an ACC game. The Fridge was a large part of the defensive line for the Chicago Bears, and occasionally a running back, but that didn't make him a two-sport player. He even tried boxing, but that was the made-for-Fox stuff that nobody counts as sport. No, Perry was a football player .... until last weekend, when he ate 12 hot dogs in 12 minutes.

How many hot dogs can a William and Mary student stuff down his throat in 10 minutes? That's the question Stuart Shields, a rising sophomore and marketing major at the College of William and Mary, hopes to answer when he competes in the Nathan's Famous Mid Atlantic Regional Hot Dog Eating Championship at 1 p.m. Saturday at the MacArthur Center in Norfolk. The winner of the qualifier will be named Virginia Hot Dog Eating Champion and given a chance to compete in the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, N.Y. "I've been watching the thing on the Fourth of July for the past three or four years," Shields said.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young has a Super Bowl ring, the highest one-season quarterback rating in history, a rocket left arm and the admiration of millions, save maybe Joe Montana and Deion Sanders. He also has milk all over his face. Gross looking stuff on the top of his lip. A milk mustache. A pasty stripe that looks more like paint than cow juice. Steve needs to wipe his face with a napkin. Until he does, Young's scored a touchdown for equal rights for men and for something called the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board.

Relish hot dogs? There are now two Hot Dog Kings on the Peninsula. George Garofalis and his sister-in-law, Stavroula Garofalis, have opened a second and larger restaurant at 12838 Jefferson Ave. in the Denbigh section of Newport News. The new King serves up the same famous foot-long and chili hot dogs as the original at 10725 Jefferson Ave., but its dining area is twice as large, an employee at the new store said. The original King was established 22 years ago by George Garofalis and his brother, Gus, who died April 15. Newport News police spokeswoman Lynn James said Gus Garofalis' death is still under investigation.

Tasty discovery: Bowl of chili and hot dog special Price: $5.95 Destination: Laura's Rise & Shine Diner, 1981 E. Pembroke Ave., Buckroe Shopping Center, Hampton. 757-728-0400. Hours: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday A bowl of chili is my idea of the perfect comfort food for a rainy, wintry day. When I ducked into Laura's Rise & Shine Diner for a quick lunch last week, the special that day - chili and a hot dog - was all I needed to see. Daily specials are written on a chalk board inside the front door of this cozy eatery that sits at one end of the Buckroe Shopping Center.

HAMPTON—A matchup between a Hampton man and jam-filled doughnuts will take place Saturday at the Krispy Kreme in Hampton. Mike Leonard, 37, will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for eating the most jam-filled doughnuts in less than three minutes, all while not licking his lips. "Licking your lips while eating is a natural reaction, so you're basically trying to go about an unnatural way of eating," Leonard said. "You have to chew with your mouth closed the whole time to have a chance, which will be a challenge.

With hot dog in hand, Brad Jeffrey poses with his twin daughters, Adyson, left, and Rylie, in front of the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile. The iconic vehicle visited Gus' Hot Dog King on Jefferson Avenue in Newport News on April 14 to celebrate the restaurant's 40 years of serving hot dogs.

Transportation poll • Amy, Hampton : I can't find the transportation funding poll link, is it up yet? I also tried to Google it, still nothing. • Steve, Smithfield : I looked for the transportation funding poll on your website. Can't find it and would like to take part in this poll. Where did you hide the tab? • Herbert, James City County : I could not find the transportation poll. Where did you hide it? • Lee, Williamsburg : Transportation funding poll is not found yet. Editor : We had quite a few calls about this.

The Norfolk Tides turned back the clock and laid out the food and drinks on Tuesday night at Harbor Park. The team's annual "Turn Back the Clock" promotion - with all hot dogs, soft drinks and popcorn marked down to 50 cents apiece - drew a crowd of 8,027 to the ballpark to see the Tides beat Pawtucket 4-3 in 13 innings. According to figures released by the team, the fans ate more than 15,000 hot dogs on Tuesday night and purchased more than 10,000 soft drinks and 4,000 boxes of popcorn.

Tom Estep has had help from his wife, Lynda, and now his sons and grandchildren pitch in as well. Sure, it might have been better had Tom Estep given a deeper answer, one that resulted in goose bumps and a tingly feeling to know there are such warm people gracing the earth. But, come on, after decades of 12-hour days serving chili dogs at the Shenandoah County Fair, the man deserves the benefit of the doubt. "I've just always been coming," said Estep, 61, of Mount Jackson.

Dean Seidnitzer has expanded his hot dog eatery to give it year-round appeal. Formerly called Dean's Hot Dogs and Carnival Foods, the restaurant changed to the King Street Diner about two weeks ago. Seidnitzer serves up daily specials such as meatloaf on Tuesdays, pork chops on Wednesdays and seafood plates on Fridays. Breakfast is a busy time of day here as well. King Street Diner. 1319 N. King St., Hampton. Breakfast, lunch daily. 876-6655. LA BODEGA BLOWOUT La Bodega Hampton is calling it "our biggest event of the year!"